Melastoma sanguineum is called red melastome or fox-tongued melastoma in English. They are erect shrubs or small slender trees with medium-sized violet-pink colored flowers with 6 petals that have made them attractive for cultivation. The leaves have the 5 distinctive longitudinal veins (nerves) typical of plants in the family Melastomataceae.
Melastoma sanguineum are erect shrubs or small trees up to 2 to 4 m tall.[2] Leaves are ovate-lanceolate 10 to 20 cm long.
Fruit in the form of berries 15 mm long with 6 cells and many small seeds. Chromosome number 2n = 56.[2]
Native to Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Vietnam, and southern China.[2] Occasionally cultivated in Hawaii. Naturalized populations have escaped cultivation and are spreading on Hawaii Island in the Keaukaha area and on the highway from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to Hilo.[2]
Melastoma sanguineum was first described by John Sims in 1821 (Botanical Magazine 48: pl. 2241).[3]
Melastoma sanguineum is called red melastome or fox-tongued melastoma in English. They are erect shrubs or small slender trees with medium-sized violet-pink colored flowers with 6 petals that have made them attractive for cultivation. The leaves have the 5 distinctive longitudinal veins (nerves) typical of plants in the family Melastomataceae.
